Comin' together to Celebrate (IC)

[AHSCA]

The waitress noted everything down and nodded.
"Alright, tea will be there in a minute - the food might take a few more!", she announced and smiled, "Be right back!"
Indeed, a minute afterwards, the waitress returned with two cups of steaming hot black tea in large mugs, plus a carafe for refilling, two spoons, and a small carafe for milk - Selkie usually did not drink tea with sugar.
She smiled. "As said, food will take a few minutes - until then, enjoy!", she said and was off again.
A minute or so, the two of them were alone, until the man, who had watched their arrival, rose from his seat and stepped up to them, motioning to one of the chairs. He was a redhead, his hair long and bound back into a long, slim braid, his red-brown eyes sparkled. He looked rather sportly, well-trained, and around eighteen.
"Ma'am, Miss, would you allow me to join you?", he asked politely, then bowed his head politely, "My, where are my manners? I am Leonard, Leonard Rualacha of the Tribe of Wicklow."

"Thank you very much." Haru thanked as she and Hina took the first sips of their tea. "Mmm it's good." Hina praised.

Haru added a little milk to it and stirred just a bit as they were soon approached by a man asking to take a seat with them. "Oh by all means," Haru nodded "We'd enjoy the company. Leonard, pleasure to meet you. I'm Haru, this is my daughter, Hina."

"Nice to meet you." Hina bowed her head politely to greet the man. "Oh that's right, Selkie people are part of tribes. Once upon a time I belonged to the Takaya Tribe, but that was when AHSCA was a different place. Well so different in fact it wasn't even AHSCA then."

"Well as mama just let out," Hina added "We're from AHSCA. "

"Mhm, just my girl and I, a little mother-daughter-time. Because a week from now is a special occasion as my Hina turns 14."

"Aww mama, I really said not to make a big deal out of it....."

"Oh baby, you know as old tradition has it, you'll be a woman in the eyes of the law." She turned her gaze back to Leonard again "Well that's only if her papa and I declare it so, times again have changed since I was a girl."

Branwen soaked every word up like a dry sponge drew up water and giggled at the fact, that her hometown, her little Cuan, had inspired the Great Shizuka Gozen!
Gods, this was a wonderful day!
She turned a bit sheepish at the question, though.
"For a few years, now, I've been writing, mostly science fiction.", she retold, excitedly, "So far, I have one published - Gwarcheidwad: Hunter and Prey. Big Sis was my proofreader and she loved it!"
"Indeed, it's a nice book.", the older one said with a smile. "Maybe you can swap signed copies?"
Branwen's eyes lit up. "That is a great idea!", she said and turned back to Shizuka, "What do you think, Miss Gozen?"

"Aw how wonderful! Your big sis was your proofer. For me that was my best friend at the ripe age of 13. So science-fiction huh? Aah yeah the fiction of speculation! I must admit, I'm pretty illiterate when it comes to technology, I still hammer away on an old typewriter I charmed off a vendor when I wrote Voyage on the Blue Bird, but that said, I'd very much love to read your book! And I'd be more than happy to sign anything you like!"

[Kuronami]

Pina smiled at the excitement of Billie, going down onto a knee to speak with her and be on the same eyelevel then her and Joey.
"Oh, Kuronami - a lovely place!", she said and made sure, that Lorgaire behaved himself a bit more. "I would love to travel there someday. With Donny and Lorgaire." She smiled, scratching the canine under his chin, which he liked. "So... you were here last year for the Harvest Festival? Have you made any good friends?"

"Oh you should totally come!" Billie replied enthusiastically. "Well ya might not come 'round little Thunder Creek which is where we're from but still so many good places to go, you'd have fun!"

"We were." Jamie responded. "We did meet a nice couple with their young son, 'bout our girl's age. Oooh let's see..." He thought to recall their names and Charlie was able to fill that in, "Asteria Áed and their son, Kenny."

"Kenny, was really nice" Billie said "Me and him really got along great."

"They're all lovey dovey!" Joey added

"I told ya Joey, I don't know that for sure, given we've been apart so long! Ah 'sides anyway, he's all the way here, I'm all the way there."

The mother smiled and bowed her head lightly.
Her daughter wore an excited grin: "Good morning to you, too, Miss! It indeed is!", she said with a grin, "The musicians are cool, too! Right now, Alaina and Eoin are jamming together and they look so cute!"
Indeed, on stage, a young man stood by a young woman, both with guitars. The woman was silver-blonde, wearing a leather dress, while he was dark brown haired and wore glasses. Their melody was an experimental one.
"Mam is waiting on Mom, so that they can dance their Spring Dance and they will look even cuter!", the girl added and her mother blushed.

"The music is great here, we're having a great time!" Mei said.

"Yeah." Tsukasa agreed "I'm Tsukasa, this is Mei."

"How nice it is to meet you."

[Mediama]

Fiona smiled.
"Oh, roughly... for the first stretch!", she said and took Miranda's hand, feeling its warmth and softness - it surprised her for a moment. "So t-that we don't separated.", she reasoned and pulled Miranda along.
Their way to the bakery she had in mind would lead them a bit into the direction Kathleen had chosen, but then turned to the right sharply. They had the best breadrolls and a bloody good goat cheese! The ham wasn't bad either.
Fiona was quite sure, that they would love it!

Miranda couldn't help but blush at Fiona's supposed reasoning, but blushed all the same, feeling some sort of rush come over her as she couldn't help but stroke the back of her hand with thumb feeling equal softness, but more warmth. Must've been all of this heat from the weather and from the crowds. Miranda thought to herself.

Ready or not though, she and Fiona were off on a mad dash to outrace Kathleen.

Miranda tried her hardest to keep up with Fiona. Though she and Kathleen had often played together in soccer, archery, and polo, in addition other activities 'young ladies' should've been privy to like climbing and hiking, Kathleen was the more active of the two.

Thus, while Miranda was doing a good job keeping pace with the more energetic Fiona, she held on tightly to her hand to keep from being separated. It wasn't all bad though, they had booked it quickly enough that Kathleen had come into good sight for both of the girls. Though, both parties were still separated by a giant horde of festival-goers. In their mad dash to catch up with Kathleen, Miranda said in time with her breath, "Y-You mentioned that Kathleen was going in roughly the right direction for the first stretch of the way to this bakery, what's the diiiif-!"

Her train of thought was abruptly disrupted by Fiona's abrupt pull to the right to follow a different street. Her arm felt like it was about to be ripped from her socket, and soon, they had lost sight of Kathleen. Well, she'll realize sooner or later that she's going in the wrong direction, right? Miranda nervously thought as she was now alone with the Selkie native. Hear heart began to beat up from not just the running, but to the fact that she was alone with a girl she hardly knew.

---

Liv accepted her cuddling, smiled even more, almost from ear to ear.
"And neither was school for me.", she said and snuggled into Kat. They were certainly not the only pair of lovers present today, and not the only ones celebrating that publically. No one took much notice of two girls doing so either. "My heart almost broke time and time again, when I found no letter of yours in the mail and..."
She choked slightly.
"...come. How about we catch up a bit?", she asked and smiled, "And I know, where we can get breakfast outside of this whole hubbub!"

Kat held Liv closer, and hugged her tighter as she stroked and patted her back as Liv choked slightly. When they separated, and Liv offered breakfast for them to both catch up with each other, Kat quietly nodded. "Breakfast is good. I-I don't think many of us took advantage of the food they offered back at the inn before we all left. A-And it would be nice to talk in somewhere more... intimate." Kat blushed, briefly looking down at her sandals, accompanying a pale blue dress with a white cardigan, black travel backpack and an analogue camera which hung around her neck.

She looked back at Liv, and impulsively tugged a stray lock of hair back behind her ear, before stroking it in place. She nodded immediately after, then held onto Liv's hand, rubbing into the plush warmth that it provided.

Soon they were on their way, the New Leedsian and the Leudan, both of them walking together closely into the crowd. As they started to walk, Katherine leaned in and gently rested her head on Liv's shoulder, having noticed the surprising amount of tolerance to couples like them in Selkie, both on her previous trip, and her current excursion.

She nuzzled into Liv's neck, and took in the feel of encompassing warmth, as they walked to oddly enough, fulfill the same goal as our other leading lady, to get breakfast, or brunch, or... well, whatever, something to eat at least.

[The Chuck]

Cuan - Láir Square

Jeremiah sat and smiled as he watched the interaction between Mona and Mistress Banphrionsa. As he listened, he perked up when Mistress Banphrionsa addressed him.

"Indeed I am ma'am. I've traveled a good distance to arrive here in Cuan and as such, I am quite eager to find not only my fellow artisans and craftsmen but also an area where I could set up my wagon. I have brought some materials and supplies to be able to set up a small smithing and coopering exhibition if there is any space around the festival."

[Lillorainen]

En route to the Marcach Camp.
Leonard grinned, returned the bows.
"The pleasure is mine, Mister Andresen, Miss Boserup.", he said and took the latter's hand, breathing a kiss onto the back, grinning in that lopsided way, that made Selkie-Girls swoon. Then he turned back to Hilda. "Then we will pray for him, too, Hilda, for he isn't the only one with finals coming up... although his finals will be a bit more immediate, by the sounds of it."
He grinned, spotting the bags.
"Say, do you have a place to crash?", he asked, "We still have a few spots free in the camp outside town and you would be very welcome Hilda - and friends of yours are friends of ours!"

Láir Square.
I snorted in amusement.
Nothing against Chris, but I would bet, that he did not know Cuan like he did - as much as I did not know his hometown like he did. It was only natural.
Still...
I smiled. "Say, Chris... how about I show you some of Cuan's lesser tourist-traversed areas?", I asked, went onto the tips of my toes and pecked his lips. "Places I traverse regularly..." I grinned. "...and where I sing and tend to a mob of cubs... Mister Folaíochta would love to see you again, too."

On the way to the Marcach-Camp.
Mia tried not to show any swooning to much, when Leonard kissed the back of her hand and grinned. She wasn't entirely successful ...
Hilda, meanwhile, nodded. "Well, he got three or four weeks of time left for studying until the first exam out of five comes. But final exams aren't exactly considered an easy rush, with a lot of things possibly being asked for."
Sophus was just about wondering about the time and the number of tests - then he remembered, that he was from another state.
Hilda continued, "As for the place to crash, it would be a pleasure for us! We brought our tents with us, for we expected the inns to be entirely booked out. One can't always be as lucky as Fred and I have been in Shella."
Mia and Sophus nodded.

Láir Square.
Of course, Chris could only judge by what he had seen so far ... and that these few places he had seen so far were highly frequented by tourists, could quite not be denied.
In lieu of wondering, how common jokes about traversing the City of Traverse were in these parts, he smiled and nodded. "Sounds like a plan!" - he said. "It would be a pleasure to see Mr. Folaíochta again, too. And the places you regularly traverse, of course - for it was what I've been up to, anyway."
He pecked her lips in the same manner, bowing down a bit due to their size difference.

[Mervay]

The Stoc Inn was a bit off from the beaten paths, but could still easily be reached.
It indeed was almost exclusively famous for its band and the only reason, why people came was, indeed, that band. Rarely, people stayed overnight, or at least Selkie did - foreigners did.
And online forums were full of reports about the hard and uncomfortable beds.
Still, the Stoc was a good and decent house.
And finding a room there was, on that day, luck on the side of Lise and her friend - someone had aborted his reservation and the room was free. A single-room, with one bed, albeit it was a bit wider.
The receptionist explained to them, that other then that one, they did not have any other rooms and that it was unlikely, that they would find a room anywhere else in the city - unless they had a tent with them, which they could erect on the camping fields outside of town, that was.

This Inn was kinda out of the more traditional or main paths for today, however it was still easy to be reached without problems. Lise and Trinity knew this place wasn't know for having the best beds or being a Inn of maybe five stars like the Píoráid Inn of Shella during the last festival, but where it was great music it could be worth it for her here.
Besides she and neither Trinity couldn't reserve neither of the best Inn's thanks to this visit being more of last minute for their celebration of school, of course since school was to be ending in the next weeks and the spring vacations would begun.

Once they were inside and after they asked about a room, well it seemed lady luck was once again with them. There was an room available thanks to someone cancelling it's reserve, although it was more of an single room with only one bed than nothing, the two girls looked at each other and knew they wouldn't find another one on this entire city.

"We take it" Trinity said sighing as she begun to take her wallet out with Lise. Better hope for the band being ones so it would be worth for Litton to have followed Devienne advice about this place.

[Folaisia]

The bubbly blonde grinned.
"Alright!", and then the three young woman, who looked so un-Selkie as someone could imagine, joined the Folaisians. She walked on Gordon's other side, her sisters on her other side.
When he asked for their names, she grinned and took in air...
...only to be preempted by the tower of a woman: "That cute blonde is Enya." The one, who had bumped into Gordon, giggled at being described as a 'cute blonde'. "The strict one here is Ida." The platinum blonde waved. "And I am Kiah." She let a beat pass. "We're actually not from here, but from Fortham."
She let a beat pass, looking over the rather diverse group.
"And who are you all, if you allow me to ask?", she asked as they crossed the square.

The four students looked at each other, resulting in Gordon being the first one to draw breath after getting a nod from Alpin.

"Well, I'm Gordon," he introduced himself before turning to the bespectacled blonde.

"That's my bonnie burd Marie-Noëlle, but you can call her Marie or Noëlle, whichever one you prefer."

He then points to the bespectacled male.

"That over there is Alpin, one of the smartest lads I know. Though be careful, he may kill you."

Finally, Gordon turns to the outstanding Asian female.

"And that bonnie lass with non glasses of her own is Fiona. Do mind that she has an awfy good sense of fashion."

"And, it may non seem much, but we're all nerds, to play on that stereotype for a wee bit," added Alpin, chuckling.

"Exactly," interjected Gordon, nodding, "we're all students in one of the nation's best universities, D.I.P.S., or the Dunkeld Institute of Polytechnic Studies, if you want to be formal."

"You'd best be careful about Alpin though. He can fry our brains like fire burstin' out of a cooking pot in a microsecond whenever he attempts to explain a certain concept," commented Fiona.

"Hey, at least I'm tryin' my fuckin' best, you know."

"Yeah, right."

As if she were a roaming spirit, Marie then voiced herself out.

"Lovely, bonnie couple, arenon they," she then commented, before turning to the girls to offer her right hand, "Breau de vous rencontrer tous. That means 'nice to meet you' in Folaisian French."

[The Selkie]

Marie chuckled slightly. "Prussia-Poland, or-the nation that can apparently can give a bunch of monks a brigade's worth of T-55s and T-60s, but can't give sane amounts of homework to college students."
She followed her through the twisting streets, keeping up as best as she could. Her eyes smarted in the bright light, and she blinked constantly, sometimes squeezing them shut for seconds at a time-which, of course, lead her to almost lose Kiah a few times.

Seeing the quite tired state of Marie, Kiah made sure, that she would not loose her that easily. Quite on the contrary, she made sure, that she did not loose her.
It were damn close calls at times.
Still, in the end, they stood in front of a homely little shop by the Cuas' riverside, a sign over the entrance reading 'Liam's Herbs' in Selkie Runes. It was, if one asked Kiah, the best shop available for herbal medicine in Cuan.
And as she pushed the door open, she knew why: The smells. Old Liam put up bundles of herbs, which had a relaxing smell, which gave the room a note and which calmed raging heads.
A small bell over the entrance chimed.
"Come in.", Kiah urged Marie and when she was inside, she took a look: Wooden shelves, filled with bags of herbal medicine for many, many ailments, smoking herbs and appropriate equipment - there was a lot of stuff available.
Only Old Liam was not behind the counter. In fact, no one was.

Ropaire Inn
Jan Breytenbach

Jan's heart stopped for a moment when he heard that familiar voice - the voice of an angel. The voice which played part in the act of having him fall hopelessly in love with a women he only knew for one evening. One glorious evening.

When he spun around to look upon the source of the sweet voice, his eyes confirmed which his ears have told him. Gwen was looking even more beautifull in person than he actually remembered her. Its only been a few months.. but too long it was!

Without saying a word he slowly walked towards Gwen, and with an amazingly cocky smile he answered "Greetings Mi' Lady. Ye know.. I have nothing on me..." hoping he could not only surprise her with actually traveling to the other side of the planet specifically for her, but also that he studied some trivial facts on her culture.

Gwen took a moment to understand, what Jan was talking about - then she snorted in delight.
He had looked up Selkie-Culture. As a little reward, she went up to her toes and kissed him onto his lips.
Her smile was a bit insecure, though.
She looked into his eyes, which she loved, glad to hear his voice, which she loved, to feel his hug... which she loved.
She exhaled after a long moment.
"Come.", she said and took his hand, leading him towards the stairs, "We have a few things to discuss and I would like to do that in private."

Huggable or not, Kiri definitely seemed happier now. She had appreciated the gesture.

"Onward!" declared Z dramatically, anticipating a good meal, or at least one better than what they served on a steamer that looked like it was made out of scrap metal and lead paint.

"I haven't heard that proverb before, but I think I can agree with it." Ren giggled. She liked being called a 'priestess' even if that might not be what she would become, as she looked up to her mother a lot.

Macha wouldn't know it, but she was usually so shy she barely said this many words in a day. Kiri had definitely noticed this, and was pleased by her sister's willingness to socialize.

Macha indeed didn't know, that Ren was usually a shy and quiet one, but she had a feeling, based on what she knew of her from social media - in any case, she liked this Ren. She had a cute giggle.
"Then come!", the Spiorad said with a grin, motioning for them to follow her - towards the Ceol Inn, one of the most esteemed houses in the Free Lands. And currently booked to capacity. It was a splendid house, half-timbered like the Selkie did, the ground floor being built of stone and the levels above that, three in total, which extended out, even had a small corner tower.
As the Ceol was reserved for VIPs, there was a guard at the entrance, who let Macha and company pass with a nod. She grinned over her shoulder, winking at the girls.
Then, once inside, she turned to the stairs, led them to the right, into the restaurant, where they were already expected.
The woman did not look much older then Ren, white hair and red-brown eyes, on her head, a pair of fox ears. She had pointy ears, which stood a bit off, but the most... captivating thing were her eyes, deep and strong and full of wisdom... and of mischief.
Macha went down onto both knees, lowered her head, as the woman rose and looked at Ren, Z and Kiri.
"So...", she began, "...you three are the girls I was told about. Ren, Kiri and someone going by the name of Z." She looked from one to the other. "Two of you look like Spiorad... and I can not smell the third..."
She smiled.
"This world still has a few surprises, even after all these Springs...", she said and motioned to the table, "Please, you three, have seats. There is much curiosity to sate - not to mention stomachs!"
Macha rose as well and sat next to Ren.

The waitress noted everything down and nodded.
"Alright, tea will be there in a minute - the food might take a few more!", she announced and smiled, "Be right back!"
Indeed, a minute afterwards, the waitress returned with two cups of steaming hot black tea in large mugs, plus a carafe for refilling, two spoons, and a small carafe for milk - Selkie usually did not drink tea with sugar.
She smiled. "As said, food will take a few minutes - until then, enjoy!", she said and was off again.
A minute or so, the two of them were alone, until the man, who had watched their arrival, rose from his seat and stepped up to them, motioning to one of the chairs. He was a redhead, his hair long and bound back into a long, slim braid, his red-brown eyes sparkled. He looked rather sportly, well-trained, and around eighteen.
"Ma'am, Miss, would you allow me to join you?", he asked politely, then bowed his head politely, "My, where are my manners? I am Leonard, Leonard Rualacha of the Tribe of Wicklow."

"Thank you very much." Haru thanked as she and Hina took the first sips of their tea. "Mmm it's good." Hina praised.

Haru added a little milk to it and stirred just a bit as they were soon approached by a man asking to take a seat with them. "Oh by all means," Haru nodded "We'd enjoy the company. Leonard, pleasure to meet you. I'm Haru, this is my daughter, Hina."

"Nice to meet you." Hina bowed her head politely to greet the man. "Oh that's right, Selkie people are part of tribes. Once upon a time I belonged to the Takaya Tribe, but that was when AHSCA was a different place. Well so different in fact it wasn't even AHSCA then."

"Well as mama just let out," Hina added "We're from AHSCA. "

"Mhm, just my girl and I, a little mother-daughter-time. Because a week from now is a special occasion as my Hina turns 14."

"Aww mama, I really said not to make a big deal out of it....."

"Oh baby, you know as old tradition has it, you'll be a woman in the eyes of the law." She turned her gaze back to Leonard again "Well that's only if her papa and I declare it so, times again have changed since I was a girl."

Branwen soaked every word up like a dry sponge drew up water and giggled at the fact, that her hometown, her little Cuan, had inspired the Great Shizuka Gozen!
Gods, this was a wonderful day!
She turned a bit sheepish at the question, though.
"For a few years, now, I've been writing, mostly science fiction.", she retold, excitedly, "So far, I have one published - Gwarcheidwad: Hunter and Prey. Big Sis was my proofreader and she loved it!"
"Indeed, it's a nice book.", the older one said with a smile. "Maybe you can swap signed copies?"
Branwen's eyes lit up. "That is a great idea!", she said and turned back to Shizuka, "What do you think, Miss Gozen?"

"Aw how wonderful! Your big sis was your proofer. For me that was my best friend at the ripe age of 13. So science-fiction huh? Aah yeah the fiction of speculation! I must admit, I'm pretty illiterate when it comes to technology, I still hammer away on an old typewriter I charmed off a vendor when I wrote Voyage on the Blue Bird, but that said, I'd very much love to read your book! And I'd be more than happy to sign anything you like!"

Leonard smiled as he sat down and listened to the explanations.
"Oh, it is a big deal.", he told Hina with a smile, "You see, on this day, every child celebrating the coming of Spring for the 15th time, turns into adults - with all the rights and responsibilities." He grinned. "I remember my 15th and the feeling of adultness... it is a very important thing."
He smiled, before he blushed.
"Oh, where are my manners - as mentioned, I am Leonard, I am actually not from Cuan, but from Scilly, that's in that direction." He pointed in one seemingly random direction over his shoulder, but did so with such self-confidence, that one could not help but believe, yes, in that direction was Scilly, at least for a moment (it was actually right in the other direction). "And besides being a good swimmer, I also believe, that I am a good tinkerer."
He smiled.
"If I may ask, Miss Haru, what is your profession?", he asked of the woman.

That moment, when Shizuka announced, that she would love to read her book, Branwen almost died of happiness.
Her sister smiled and continued to watch as her sister's tail wagged under her skirt in excitement.
After Branwen recovered from her near-death experience, she grinned: "Oh, that would be wonderful! I don't concentrate onto the technological part of the Science Fiction, though, but I used the future and concept in it to tell a tale of the human condition... and of the condition of us Spiorad."
She smiled slightly.

Pina smiled at the excitement of Billie, going down onto a knee to speak with her and be on the same eyelevel then her and Joey.
"Oh, Kuronami - a lovely place!", she said and made sure, that Lorgaire behaved himself a bit more. "I would love to travel there someday. With Donny and Lorgaire." She smiled, scratching the canine under his chin, which he liked. "So... you were here last year for the Harvest Festival? Have you made any good friends?"

"Oh you should totally come!" Billie replied enthusiastically. "Well ya might not come 'round little Thunder Creek which is where we're from but still so many good places to go, you'd have fun!"

"We were." Jamie responded. "We did meet a nice couple with their young son, 'bout our girl's age. Oooh let's see..." He thought to recall their names and Charlie was able to fill that in, "Asteria Áed and their son, Kenny."

"Kenny, was really nice" Billie said "Me and him really got along great."

"They're all lovey dovey!" Joey added

"I told ya Joey, I don't know that for sure, given we've been apart so long! Ah 'sides anyway, he's all the way here, I'm all the way there."

The mother smiled and bowed her head lightly.
Her daughter wore an excited grin: "Good morning to you, too, Miss! It indeed is!", she said with a grin, "The musicians are cool, too! Right now, Alaina and Eoin are jamming together and they look so cute!"
Indeed, on stage, a young man stood by a young woman, both with guitars. The woman was silver-blonde, wearing a leather dress, while he was dark brown haired and wore glasses. Their melody was an experimental one.
"Mam is waiting on Mom, so that they can dance their Spring Dance and they will look even cuter!", the girl added and her mother blushed.

"The music is great here, we're having a great time!" Mei said.

"Yeah." Tsukasa agreed "I'm Tsukasa, this is Mei."

"How nice it is to meet you."

Pina giggled.
"He does sound like a nice lad, that Kenny.", she said, smiling at Billy, "I am sure, that he still thinks of you, no matter the distance!" Thus having reinforced Billy's confidence, she looked at her parents and rose. "Well... if you have time later today, at 4 p.m., Donny and his lads and lassies make a demonstration at the Middle Bastion. It's later today, in the afternoon, but..."
She shrugged.

The little girl grinned.
"Pleasure to meet cha!", she said with a cheer, "I'm Rona!"
Her mother smiled at the enthusiasm. "Indeed, our pleasure, Tsukasa, Mei. I am Mavie.", she introduced herself with a small bow, "Are you two traveling together? A big round trip or just a few days of Cuan?"

Miranda couldn't help but blush at Fiona's supposed reasoning, but blushed all the same, feeling some sort of rush come over her as she couldn't help but stroke the back of her hand with thumb feeling equal softness, but more warmth. Must've been all of this heat from the weather and from the crowds. Miranda thought to herself.

Ready or not though, she and Fiona were off on a mad dash to outrace Kathleen.

Miranda tried her hardest to keep up with Fiona. Though she and Kathleen had often played together in soccer, archery, and polo, in addition other activities 'young ladies' should've been privy to like climbing and hiking, Kathleen was the more active of the two.

Thus, while Miranda was doing a good job keeping pace with the more energetic Fiona, she held on tightly to her hand to keep from being separated. It wasn't all bad though, they had booked it quickly enough that Kathleen had come into good sight for both of the girls. Though, both parties were still separated by a giant horde of festival-goers. In their mad dash to catch up with Kathleen, Miranda said in time with her breath, "Y-You mentioned that Kathleen was going in roughly the right direction for the first stretch of the way to this bakery, what's the diiiif-!"

Her train of thought was abruptly disrupted by Fiona's abrupt pull to the right to follow a different street. Her arm felt like it was about to be ripped from her socket, and soon, they had lost sight of Kathleen. Well, she'll realize sooner or later that she's going in the wrong direction, right? Miranda nervously thought as she was now alone with the Selkie native. Hear heart began to beat up from not just the running, but to the fact that she was alone with a girl she hardly knew.

---

Kat held Liv closer, and hugged her tighter as she stroked and patted her back as Liv choked slightly. When they separated, and Liv offered breakfast for them to both catch up with each other, Kat quietly nodded. "Breakfast is good. I-I don't think many of us took advantage of the food they offered back at the inn before we all left. A-And it would be nice to talk in somewhere more... intimate." Kat blushed, briefly looking down at her sandals, accompanying a pale blue dress with a white cardigan, black travel backpack and an analogue camera which hung around her neck.

She looked back at Liv, and impulsively tugged a stray lock of hair back behind her ear, before stroking it in place. She nodded immediately after, then held onto Liv's hand, rubbing into the plush warmth that it provided.

Soon they were on their way, the New Leedsian and the Leudan, both of them walking together closely into the crowd. As they started to walk, Katherine leaned in and gently rested her head on Liv's shoulder, having noticed the surprising amount of tolerance to couples like them in Selkie, both on her previous trip, and her current excursion.

She nuzzled into Liv's neck, and took in the feel of encompassing warmth, as they walked to oddly enough, fulfill the same goal as our other leading lady, to get breakfast, or brunch, or... well, whatever, something to eat at least.

Fiona suddenly stopped, rose to the tips of her toes, looked around, then muttered a word in Selkie, which is not suited for publication.
She turned to Miranda: "I lost her.", she stated, her eyes hard, "I don't suppose you have her mobile phone number?" With that, she took out her own. "And while we are at it, what's your number?"
Cuan was safe, Kat would, if she didn't do something tremendously wrong, be safe, but Fiona still felt as if she failed: She should have stopped her, kept better watch.
Then again, Kat was more active then a bunch of Cubs on caffeine...
When she asked Miranda for her number, though, she had no thoughts behind it except safety.

Liv smiled.
Indeed, homosexual couples were not something one saw at every street, but one saw them - neither did they feel the need to hide nor did they get bothered. Selkie were not accepting of homosexuality, for them, it was a cultural thing. If Searc, Goddess of Love, gave love, then what was a hindrance?
Without these thoughts in mind, Liv smiled, putting her head to Kat's.
This felt good.
Kat might see, that they were approaching the Grand Temple, or rather, one of the side-buildings.

Cuan - Láir Square

Jeremiah sat and smiled as he watched the interaction between Mona and Mistress Banphrionsa. As he listened, he perked up when Mistress Banphrionsa addressed him.

"Indeed I am ma'am. I've traveled a good distance to arrive here in Cuan and as such, I am quite eager to find not only my fellow artisans and craftsmen but also an area where I could set up my wagon. I have brought some materials and supplies to be able to set up a small smithing and coopering exhibition if there is any space around the festival."

The woman winced.
"I am afraid, that you'll have to talk to the organizers, if you want to set up an exhibition.", she said, then her expression swung around. "But as mentioned, I can show you, where a good smithy is, where you can talk shop with your fellow blacksmiths. Maybe you can even show your skills with that blacksmith?"
Mona nodded. "If you think, who I think of, Mistress Banphrionsa, then I would love to come along!", Mona requested, then grinned at Ilia, "What about you, Ilia?"
"I... come along, if you do.", he said and blushed.

The Stoc Inn was a bit off from the beaten paths, but could still easily be reached.
It indeed was almost exclusively famous for its band and the only reason, why people came was, indeed, that band. Rarely, people stayed overnight, or at least Selkie did - foreigners did.
And online forums were full of reports about the hard and uncomfortable beds.
Still, the Stoc was a good and decent house.
And finding a room there was, on that day, luck on the side of Lise and her friend - someone had aborted his reservation and the room was free. A single-room, with one bed, albeit it was a bit wider.
The receptionist explained to them, that other then that one, they did not have any other rooms and that it was unlikely, that they would find a room anywhere else in the city - unless they had a tent with them, which they could erect on the camping fields outside of town, that was.

This Inn was kinda out of the more traditional or main paths for today, however it was still easy to be reached without problems. Lise and Trinity knew this place wasn't know for having the best beds or being a Inn of maybe five stars like the Píoráid Inn of Shella during the last festival, but where it was great music it could be worth it for her here.
Besides she and neither Trinity couldn't reserve neither of the best Inn's thanks to this visit being more of last minute for their celebration of school, of course since school was to be ending in the next weeks and the spring vacations would begun.

Once they were inside and after they asked about a room, well it seemed lady luck was once again with them. There was an room available thanks to someone cancelling it's reserve, although it was more of an single room with only one bed than nothing, the two girls looked at each other and knew they wouldn't find another one on this entire city.

"We take it" Trinity said sighing as she begun to take her wallet out with Lise. Better hope for the band being ones so it would be worth for Litton to have followed Devienne advice about this place.

The receptionist took care of the formalities with them and then handed them the keys to their room, which was a cheap one - and it deserved this cheap price: It was an over-glorified broom chamber on the first floor, with a small cupboard, a bed, wider then normal, and a chair under a small window. Once they had set themselves up, they might notice the commotion outside.
Yelling, a crash even, a squeak, then another crash.
All of that happened downstairs, in the ground floor, which was followed by more yelling.
Down there, they would be able to see one of the restaurant's waitresses, holding a struggling animal, a black-furred vulpine, who was struggling in the hold of the wiatress, while two more employees of the house were looking rather pissed.
That one of them had a rather nasty looking scratch mark on the cheek might have something to do with it.

The four students looked at each other, resulting in Gordon being the first one to draw breath after getting a nod from Alpin.

"Well, I'm Gordon," he introduced himself before turning to the bespectacled blonde.

"That's my bonnie burd Marie-Noëlle, but you can call her Marie or Noëlle, whichever one you prefer."

He then points to the bespectacled male.

"That over there is Alpin, one of the smartest lads I know. Though be careful, he may kill you."

Finally, Gordon turns to the outstanding Asian female.

"And that bonnie lass with non glasses of her own is Fiona. Do mind that she has an awfy good sense of fashion."

"And, it may non seem much, but we're all nerds, to play on that stereotype for a wee bit," added Alpin, chuckling.

"Exactly," interjected Gordon, nodding, "we're all students in one of the nation's best universities, D.I.P.S., or the Dunkeld Institute of Polytechnic Studies, if you want to be formal."

"You'd best be careful about Alpin though. He can fry our brains like fire burstin' out of a cooking pot in a microsecond whenever he attempts to explain a certain concept," commented Fiona.

"Hey, at least I'm tryin' my fuckin' best, you know."

"Yeah, right."

As if she were a roaming spirit, Marie then voiced herself out.

"Lovely, bonnie couple, arenon they," she then commented, before turning to the girls to offer her right hand, "Breau de vous rencontrer tous. That means 'nice to meet you' in Folaisian French."

Ida looked at Alpin, a small, challenging smirk appearing on her lips.
"I study Philosophy at the UoF.", she said, "Try me!"
Kiah rolled her eyes.
"Actually, don't.", she said, much to her older sister's dismay, "She will reply to any try by starting on philosophical concepts, which will make you believe, that you are a brunette dancer by the name of Shirley."
"Oh, come on, I'm not that bad!", Ida said and then added: "And no, Enya doesn't count!"

Enya, meanwhile, took Marie's hand a bit awkwardly - both cultures she came from were not handshake-people, but she knew the gesture.
She smiled.
"Pleasure's all mine, Marie!", she said and her eyes told, that she really had the pleasure. "I must admit, that I never heard of your university, but it does sound nice. Ida studies at the UoF and Kiah at the UoL, but I am still in school - Braillín High School in Fortham." She leaned over as if to tell a secret. "I want to study, too, but abroad." Going back, she asked Marie: "What do you want to study?"

On the way to the Marcach-Camp.
Mia tried not to show any swooning to much, when Leonard kissed the back of her hand and grinned. She wasn't entirely successful ...
Hilda, meanwhile, nodded. "Well, he got three or four weeks of time left for studying until the first exam out of five comes. But final exams aren't exactly considered an easy rush, with a lot of things possibly being asked for."
Sophus was just about wondering about the time and the number of tests - then he remembered, that he was from another state.
Hilda continued, "As for the place to crash, it would be a pleasure for us! We brought our tents with us, for we expected the inns to be entirely booked out. One can't always be as lucky as Fred and I have been in Shella."
Mia and Sophus nodded.

Láir Square.
Of course, Chris could only judge by what he had seen so far ... and that these few places he had seen so far were highly frequented by tourists, could quite not be denied.
In lieu of wondering, how common jokes about traversing the City of Traverse were in these parts, he smiled and nodded. "Sounds like a plan!" - he said. "It would be a pleasure to see Mr. Folaíochta again, too. And the places you regularly traverse, of course - for it was what I've been up to, anyway."
He pecked her lips in the same manner, bowing down a bit due to their size difference.

En route to the Marcach Camp.
Mia's almost-swoon was Leonard's signal to stop - he had a girlfriend, after all.
At Hilda's words, he nodded. "Indeed, luck is sometimes fickle.", he said and smiled slightly, "Granted, if I remember, we of the Marcach Guild helped luck out a bit, but that's besides the point. In any case... the camp is half a kilometre out of town." He petted his horse's side. "If you want, he can take your bags?"
The horse gave a soft neigh as if to confirm.

Láir Square.
I grinned.
"Then you might want to meet the two people, who we will undertake that long journey with, together with Soiprigh.", I said and motioned to the two of them.
The girl was a brunette, blue eyes and a big smile, her hair bound back in a neat ponytail, a few strands framing her face. She wore Wexford's Fish Leather, which seemed a bit airy for the weather, but the fur draped over her shoulders made that easier. She gave Chris a wave.
The young man was green haired, a veritable mane of locks reaching well down his back, green eyes sparkling like small sapphires as he pulled Chris into a friendly hug.
As if Finnegan Sáraigh of the Tribe of Clonmel and Enya Dubh of the Tribe of Wexford needed any introduction to Chris...
I grinned.

[AHSCA]

Leonard smiled as he sat down and listened to the explanations.
"Oh, it is a big deal.", he told Hina with a smile, "You see, on this day, every child celebrating the coming of Spring for the 15th time, turns into adults - with all the rights and responsibilities." He grinned. "I remember my 15th and the feeling of adultness... it is a very important thing."
He smiled, before he blushed.
"Oh, where are my manners - as mentioned, I am Leonard, I am actually not from Cuan, but from Scilly, that's in that direction." He pointed in one seemingly random direction over his shoulder, but did so with such self-confidence, that one could not help but believe, yes, in that direction was Scilly, at least for a moment (it was actually right in the other direction). "And besides being a good swimmer, I also believe, that I am a good tinkerer."
He smiled.
"If I may ask, Miss Haru, what is your profession?", he asked of the woman.

"ah a fellow traveler just like us! Well you probably traveled a lesser distance than us. Well, Leonard, to answer your question, I wear a few hats. Mostly, I'm a sailor by trade. Much of my time is spent ferrying passengers between islands. But on some occasions, I do longer trips, like small freight service or passenger services. I also have a small rice farm with my husband and daughter."

"The farming is a bit more my specialty." Hina added. "Mama's got the real sailor's blood running through her."

"Well I keep to ferrying mostly to stay close to the family. So what about you, you said you were a tinkerer so do you build things, invent new items?"

That moment, when Shizuka announced, that she would love to read her book, Branwen almost died of happiness.
Her sister smiled and continued to watch as her sister's tail wagged under her skirt in excitement.
After Branwen recovered from her near-death experience, she grinned: "Oh, that would be wonderful! I don't concentrate onto the technological part of the Science Fiction, though, but I used the future and concept in it to tell a tale of the human condition... and of the condition of us Spiorad."
She smiled slightly.

"Ah fascinating! Well I truly am looking forward to reading it then! One tip I think that's gotten me through so many stories, is good characters is what connects the reader to you. Otherwise it's just a technical manual!" She laughed a little at her own quip.

[Folaisia]

Ida looked at Alpin, a small, challenging smirk appearing on her lips.
"I study Philosophy at the UoF.", she said, "Try me!"
Kiah rolled her eyes.
"Actually, don't.", she said, much to her older sister's dismay, "She will reply to any try by starting on philosophical concepts, which will make you believe, that you are a brunette dancer by the name of Shirley."
"Oh, come on, I'm not that bad!", Ida said and then added: "And no, Enya doesn't count!"

Enya, meanwhile, took Marie's hand a bit awkwardly - both cultures she came from were not handshake-people, but she knew the gesture.
She smiled.
"Pleasure's all mine, Marie!", she said and her eyes told, that she really had the pleasure. "I must admit, that I never heard of your university, but it does sound nice. Ida studies at the UoF and Kiah at the UoL, but I am still in school - Braillín High School in Fortham." She leaned over as if to tell a secret. "I want to study, too, but abroad." Going back, she asked Marie: "What do you want to study?"

Alpin chuckled as if he were an evil genius on the inside.

"Hey," he then said to Ida, "I'll bet you you willnon survive ten seconds of me explainin' how an integrated circuit works out."

Fiona sighs, if not groans, at Alpin's reply.

"Trust me, you won't. Don't even dare him," she then chuckles, pointing to Kiah, "Hey, I'm goin' on the same boat as you, Kiah, if I remember correctly. What do you know."

Meanwhile, Marie made a response to Enya. There was a tint of glee within her eyes, as if it were sunlight reflecting off the surface of her eyes.

"Well, if you ever consider studyin' at D.I.P.S. just be sure you study hard and smart," she nodded, "As of what I'm studyin', I'm majorin' in Environmental Engineering and minorin' in Statistics. How about you?"

[Port Ember]

Jan was happier than ever before for now actually getting to see his new lover. Its been months since he last saw her, and all the time he spend thinking of her since, now it was all finally a reality.

Hearing her voice, feeling her lips pressed against his, feeling her touch and smelling her sweet scent, is what life was all about. He was slightly concerned however when he noticed that Gwen was a little.. insecured? Or startled? He was not sure, but was sure he was about to find out. With his hand intwined with hers, he followed Gwen upstairs.

[Mediama]

Fiona suddenly stopped, rose to the tips of her toes, looked around, then muttered a word in Selkie, which is not suited for publication.
She turned to Miranda: "I lost her.", she stated, her eyes hard, "I don't suppose you have her mobile phone number?" With that, she took out her own. "And while we are at it, what's your number?"
Cuan was safe, Kat would, if she didn't do something tremendously wrong, be safe, but Fiona still felt as if she failed: She should have stopped her, kept better watch.
Then again, Kat was more active then a bunch of Cubs on caffeine...
When she asked Miranda for her number, though, she had no thoughts behind it except safety.

Miranda didn't know specifically what Fiona said in her bout of fury, but she had a general idea from her relative knowledge in Gaelic, and she couldn't help but blush as Fiona turned to her to ask if Kathleen had a phone number. She nodded quickly, "First thing the teachers said to do once we had our groups. I've had her phone number for a while, since we met each other in ninth year to be exact." Miranda took out her smartphone, an iPhone 6, scrolled through her favorites under 'contacts' , and quickly pressed on Kathleen's profile picture. All the while when she was calling, she continued to stroke the back of Fiona's hand with her thumb.

She had to thank her parents later for paying for worldwide coverage, for she quickly got ahold of the spirited Scot. "Aye, what is it Miri, did ya lose sight of me that quickly?"

Miranda sighed, "No, we were actually taking a different route, you were so far ahead of us, you didn't turn at the first sharp right turn."

"Ach, shit! Right, you said the first sharp right turn, right?"

"Mhmm."

"Right, I'll retrace my steps, worst case scenario, I use Poogle Maps to get me way there. Think you can pass tha phone off to that Selkian lass so she can give me some directions to memorize?"

Miranda nodded, and soon handed the phone off to Fiona.

After several minutes of giving directions, and reassurances that the Mediman Scot would find her way in time, Fiona returned the phone after Kathleen hung up. Miranda couldn't help but wrap an arm around Fiona in a hug. "Don't be too hard on yourself, Kathleen is an adventurous girl. She's not used to being depending on anyone. Then again, nether am I... There are reasons she and I are friends..." The Irish girl slightly looked to the right as she said the last few words in her sentence, not bearing at looking at such a pretty face so disappointed. Yet she looked back again, and handed Fiona her phone, "You can take a look ay my phone number, copy it down on your phone if you need to."

the two girls were now given a choice to trek on further, or wait for their Scottish friend, as Fiona wrapped up with whatever she did with Miranda's phone.

Liv smiled.
Indeed, homosexual couples were not something one saw at every street, but one saw them - neither did they feel the need to hide nor did they get bothered. Selkie were not accepting of homosexuality, for them, it was a cultural thing. If Searc, Goddess of Love, gave love, then what was a hindrance?
Without these thoughts in mind, Liv smiled, putting her head to Kat's.
This felt good.
Kat might see, that they were approaching the Grand Temple, or rather, one of the side-buildings.

Kat leaned closer to Liv, more as sort of security in the face of unfamiliarity. She turned her head towards Liv's ear, and whispered, "I don't think I read anything about this in any travel guides. Are you sure we're supposed to be here?"

Kat lifted her head from Liv's shoulder as they approached the side building, but still kept close enough to still cuddle up with Liv as she took in the scenery around them. There was still a sizeable crowd from the recent events, but the side buildings may hopefully have provided some more sparse traffic. Had it been so, Kat couldn't help but feel a slightly bit more nervous.

Kat's heart was beating with apprehension as they arrived to the door of the side building. She held Liv tighter as a source of comfort, her rock in the storm of the sea. Thoughts were racing through her head. Even so, she tried to keep her focus on Liv, she knew that not only she had to trust her as a lover, she knew logically, she lived in the country, and would have a general idea on the culture, the taboos, and the locales.

So she nervously waited next to her girlfriend in front of a door to a side building in what might be the most busy temple in the town at that moment. Waiting for her to say or do anything.

[Minroz]

“Ah, why thank you~.” Tieguang returned with a smile and a nod to Niochan.

“Oh, can I?” Lianhua perked up with excitement. She then extends her hand with her delicate fingers.

However, Yi Tieguang meanwhile just chuckles at the sight. He’s glad to see his wife happy. Although, seeing the wolf and his wife made him a bit jealous just because Lianhua is focusing her attention on the canine at the moment but he is far from being petty person. He can understand a lot of people like adorable things such as cute animals. The brown-haired lad sighs and decided to converse with Ayden a bit.

“I used to do archery at school since elementary. It was part of school curriculum in my country.” Tieguang said as he inspected the bows, feeling nostalgic about his school days. “Though, I’m more of a swordsman than anything else, haha~. Let’s just say I’m from a family of swordsmen. Same goes with my wife. We were expected to know martial arts so we can be strong and discipline or so they say, haha.”

[The Chuck]

Cuan - Láir Square

With a smile, Jeremiah spoke.

"Lead the way ma'am! I am eager to meet some fellow craftsmen of the trade!"

Jeremiah understood that the Selkie people were a quite methodical people so it didn't surprise him that he would have to get permission to set up an exhibit. As such, he filed that bit of information away for later when he might be able to find one of the event organizers to get permission. It would be a shame if he couldn't show off his style to the people of the Freelands.

[Lillorainen]

En route to the Marcach Camp.
Mia's almost-swoon was Leonard's signal to stop - he had a girlfriend, after all.
At Hilda's words, he nodded. "Indeed, luck is sometimes fickle.", he said and smiled slightly, "Granted, if I remember, we of the Marcach Guild helped luck out a bit, but that's besides the point. In any case... the camp is half a kilometre out of town." He petted his horse's side. "If you want, he can take your bags?"
The horse gave a soft neigh as if to confirm.

Láir Square.
I grinned.
"Then you might want to meet the two people, who we will undertake that long journey with, together with Soiprigh.", I said and motioned to the two of them.
The girl was a brunette, blue eyes and a big smile, her hair bound back in a neat ponytail, a few strands framing her face. She wore Wexford's Fish Leather, which seemed a bit airy for the weather, but the fur draped over her shoulders made that easier. She gave Chris a wave.
The young man was green haired, a veritable mane of locks reaching well down his back, green eyes sparkling like small sapphires as he pulled Chris into a friendly hug.
As if Finnegan Sáraigh of the Tribe of Clonmel and Enya Dubh of the Tribe of Wexford needed any introduction to Chris...
I grinned.

En route to the Marcach Camp.
As the horse whose reins were in Leonard's hands gave a soft neigh, Hilda had to grin. "Well, if the lad doesn't mind, he can indeed carry our stuff - even if it's not a horribly long march."
"Unlike mine during conscription ..." - Sophus remembered. "Twenty-five kilometers, from Preetz-Harderstedt to Sophienhof, with the weight of three of those on the back and acute deafness from Lieutenant Jansen's permanent yelling."
"Oh, then it's hearing loss, not ignorance?" - Mia wondered.
"What?" - he said, putting a finger behind his ear.
Mia snorted. "See?"
"In any case" - Hilda continued, "one can also be lucky, if there's someone who helps luck out. That's part of luck."
"Sure, make it even more complicated" - Sophus said, laughing.

Láir Square.
Chris recognized the young, green-haired man with the sparkling green eyes, who gave him a friendly hug, at once, as well as the young brunette woman waving at him. Since they had turned away, he hadn't seen their faces, but now he did - they were well-known to him.
Indeed, no introduction necessary.
"Finnegan, Enya! Nice to see ya' folks again!" - he said while hugging the former back. "How are you guys doing?"

[The Selkie]

Leonard smiled as he sat down and listened to the explanations.
"Oh, it is a big deal.", he told Hina with a smile, "You see, on this day, every child celebrating the coming of Spring for the 15th time, turns into adults - with all the rights and responsibilities." He grinned. "I remember my 15th and the feeling of adultness... it is a very important thing."
He smiled, before he blushed.
"Oh, where are my manners - as mentioned, I am Leonard, I am actually not from Cuan, but from Scilly, that's in that direction." He pointed in one seemingly random direction over his shoulder, but did so with such self-confidence, that one could not help but believe, yes, in that direction was Scilly, at least for a moment (it was actually right in the other direction). "And besides being a good swimmer, I also believe, that I am a good tinkerer."
He smiled.
"If I may ask, Miss Haru, what is your profession?", he asked of the woman.

"ah a fellow traveler just like us! Well you probably traveled a lesser distance than us. Well, Leonard, to answer your question, I wear a few hats. Mostly, I'm a sailor by trade. Much of my time is spent ferrying passengers between islands. But on some occasions, I do longer trips, like small freight service or passenger services. I also have a small rice farm with my husband and daughter."

"The farming is a bit more my specialty." Hina added. "Mama's got the real sailor's blood running through her."

"Well I keep to ferrying mostly to stay close to the family. So what about you, you said you were a tinkerer so do you build things, invent new items?"

That moment, when Shizuka announced, that she would love to read her book, Branwen almost died of happiness.
Her sister smiled and continued to watch as her sister's tail wagged under her skirt in excitement.
After Branwen recovered from her near-death experience, she grinned: "Oh, that would be wonderful! I don't concentrate onto the technological part of the Science Fiction, though, but I used the future and concept in it to tell a tale of the human condition... and of the condition of us Spiorad."
She smiled slightly.

"Ah fascinating! Well I truly am looking forward to reading it then! One tip I think that's gotten me through so many stories, is good characters is what connects the reader to you. Otherwise it's just a technical manual!" She laughed a little at her own quip.

Leonard nodded.
"I build things, mostly. Toys and other small mechanical things.", he said and reached into his pocket, putting a small thing of wood onto the table. It was revealed to be, as he pressed a small button on the side, a little music box, playing a soft melody, which repeated quickly. "I am fairly good, but I still have much to learn."
He smiled slightly at Haru.
"Family is important.", he said, "And that little music box is actually for my little sis."

Branwen nodded with energy.
"I could not agree more!", she said with enthusiasm, "Good characters drive not only the story, but they make the characters relateable. If the reader can't relate to the story, the story is not going to be effective."
"And if a story is not effective, then why should you read it?", her older sister added.
"Exactly!", Branwen agreed.

Alpin chuckled as if he were an evil genius on the inside.

"Hey," he then said to Ida, "I'll bet you you willnon survive ten seconds of me explainin' how an integrated circuit works out."

Fiona sighs, if not groans, at Alpin's reply.

"Trust me, you won't. Don't even dare him," she then chuckles, pointing to Kiah, "Hey, I'm goin' on the same boat as you, Kiah, if I remember correctly. What do you know."

Meanwhile, Marie made a response to Enya. There was a tint of glee within her eyes, as if it were sunlight reflecting off the surface of her eyes.

"Well, if you ever consider studyin' at D.I.P.S. just be sure you study hard and smart," she nodded, "As of what I'm studyin', I'm majorin' in Environmental Engineering and minorin' in Statistics. How about you?"

Ida smirked and wanted to challenge, as she became aware of the glare Kiah threw her.
"Alright, alright... when we have more alcohol in our systems, okay?", Ida asked with a challenging grin, "My head smoking and you believing to be a dancer named Shirley - going to be fun!"
Kiah rolled her eyes, then looked to Fiona: "Plan, we will keep those two apart at all costs. Sounds good?"

Enya smiled - for other people, the cheeks would hurt by now.
"Oh, I'm thinking about political science or communication science. Maybe both.", she said and shrugged, "Or I study Trade and Industry with a specialization on Brewing. Beer and ales, mind you, not whiskey."
She grinned.
"I would be working with something I like!", she added with a grin.

Jan was happier than ever before for now actually getting to see his new lover. Its been months since he last saw her, and all the time he spend thinking of her since, now it was all finally a reality.

Hearing her voice, feeling her lips pressed against his, feeling her touch and smelling her sweet scent, is what life was all about. He was slightly concerned however when he noticed that Gwen was a little.. insecured? Or startled? He was not sure, but was sure he was about to find out. With his hand intwined with hers, he followed Gwen upstairs.

Gwen led him into the second and then into the third floor, towards a singular room.
It was a larger one, with a large bed, a grey and black furred canine resting on it, who lifted his head and looked at Gwen - she raised a hand and he stayed, where he was.
There was a dresser with a chair in front of it, which Jan might need.
Moment of truth, Gwenny..., she thought as she turned to the man.
She reached up to the closing of her cloak, undid the knot and let it slide to the ground. There she stood, wearing the Geansai he was familiar with and gulped, for a bit below the 'argumentation amplifiers' he liked was a quite visible bulge. She put her hand on it.
"I'm around three months along.", she said, "It's yours."

Miranda didn't know specifically what Fiona said in her bout of fury, but she had a general idea from her relative knowledge in Gaelic, and she couldn't help but blush as Fiona turned to her to ask if Kathleen had a phone number. She nodded quickly, "First thing the teachers said to do once we had our groups. I've had her phone number for a while, since we met each other in ninth year to be exact." Miranda took out her smartphone, an iPhone 6, scrolled through her favorites under 'contacts' , and quickly pressed on Kathleen's profile picture. All the while when she was calling, she continued to stroke the back of Fiona's hand with her thumb.

She had to thank her parents later for paying for worldwide coverage, for she quickly got ahold of the spirited Scot. "Aye, what is it Miri, did ya lose sight of me that quickly?"

Miranda sighed, "No, we were actually taking a different route, you were so far ahead of us, you didn't turn at the first sharp right turn."

"Ach, shit! Right, you said the first sharp right turn, right?"

"Mhmm."

"Right, I'll retrace my steps, worst case scenario, I use Poogle Maps to get me way there. Think you can pass tha phone off to that Selkian lass so she can give me some directions to memorize?"

Miranda nodded, and soon handed the phone off to Fiona.

After several minutes of giving directions, and reassurances that the Mediman Scot would find her way in time, Fiona returned the phone after Kathleen hung up. Miranda couldn't help but wrap an arm around Fiona in a hug. "Don't be too hard on yourself, Kathleen is an adventurous girl. She's not used to being depending on anyone. Then again, nether am I... There are reasons she and I are friends..." The Irish girl slightly looked to the right as she said the last few words in her sentence, not bearing at looking at such a pretty face so disappointed. Yet she looked back again, and handed Fiona her phone, "You can take a look ay my phone number, copy it down on your phone if you need to."

the two girls were now given a choice to trek on further, or wait for their Scottish friend, as Fiona wrapped up with whatever she did with Miranda's phone.





Kat leaned closer to Liv, more as sort of security in the face of unfamiliarity. She turned her head towards Liv's ear, and whispered, "I don't think I read anything about this in any travel guides. Are you sure we're supposed to be here?"

Kat lifted her head from Liv's shoulder as they approached the side building, but still kept close enough to still cuddle up with Liv as she took in the scenery around them. There was still a sizeable crowd from the recent events, but the side buildings may hopefully have provided some more sparse traffic. Had it been so, Kat couldn't help but feel a slightly bit more nervous.

Kat's heart was beating with apprehension as they arrived to the door of the side building. She held Liv tighter as a source of comfort, her rock in the storm of the sea. Thoughts were racing through her head. Even so, she tried to keep her focus on Liv, she knew that not only she had to trust her as a lover, she knew logically, she lived in the country, and would have a general idea on the culture, the taboos, and the locales.

So she nervously waited next to her girlfriend in front of a door to a side building in what might be the most busy temple in the town at that moment. Waiting for her to say or do anything.

Fiona took the hug, wrapped her arms around Miranda.
The call was finished, Kathleen had her directions and the name of the bakery, but no matter what, Fiona was not disappointed in Miranda - she was disappointed in herself. That Kathleen did not depend on anyone, and neither did Miranda, was not a problem.
That they were friends was not a problem either.
Fiona, once she had settled into the hug, exhaled deeply, tension visibly leaving her body.
And then she said something, which she could have slapped herself for: "Your hair smells nice..."

The Arrowmaiden standing by the door in full armour nodded to Liv and Kat with a small smile before she looked forward again, keeping guard in full armour, with bowcase on the hip, a quiver on the back and a lance in the hand. Liv was quite sure, that she also had daggers somewhere.
In any case, she opened the door into the ground level of the side building, into the common area. A large, massive, wooden table was there, benches around it - and people, maybe a dozen, wearing Geansais, different robes, all in all things, which would make it clear to Liv, that she wasn't the only 'intruder'.
"Ah, Livvy!", one of the men at the table said and rose, approaching her and Kat. "Good to see you join us!" He was a tall, broad shouldered, middle aged man, who gave Liv a hug, which she took with a grin. Then his eyes fell onto Kat. "Ah, you must be... Cat, right? Liv spoke much about you."
"Kat, if I may introduce?", Liv said, "That's Finnegan, the Right Hand Man of High Priestess Ardsagart."
"Pleasure to meet you!", Finnegan said.

“Ah, why thank you~.” Tieguang returned with a smile and a nod to Niochan.

“Oh, can I?” Lianhua perked up with excitement. She then extends her hand with her delicate fingers.

However, Yi Tieguang meanwhile just chuckles at the sight. He’s glad to see his wife happy. Although, seeing the wolf and his wife made him a bit jealous just because Lianhua is focusing her attention on the canine at the moment but he is far from being petty person. He can understand a lot of people like adorable things such as cute animals. The brown-haired lad sighs and decided to converse with Ayden a bit.

“I used to do archery at school since elementary. It was part of school curriculum in my country.” Tieguang said as he inspected the bows, feeling nostalgic about his school days. “Though, I’m more of a swordsman than anything else, haha~. Let’s just say I’m from a family of swordsmen. Same goes with my wife. We were expected to know martial arts so we can be strong and discipline or so they say, haha.”

The scraggly beast that was bit cautious as he lifted his nose to Tieguang and sniffed, carefully, then seemed to consider - as he was finished with that, the mighty, massive animal...
...ran behind Niochan and hid behind his legs, which surprised him quite a bit.
He looked at him, who he was shaking like a leaf, then at Tieguang. He usually did not react that way, only when... something very unusual was in the game. He had reacted like that, when they first met a witch during the preparations for Spartacus...
Still.
"Ma'am, with duest of respect, but I would like to know, what sort of parfume you use.", he said, a small grin forming, "We might still get him to not sleep on my side of the bed!"

Ayden nodded.
"I know a few blacksmiths, which you might want to meet, then.", he said, "But first, bows. My apologies, I don't know about your homeland's archery traditions, but we use composite bows like this one." He took out one piece, made of wood, horn and glue, and showed it to the customer. "Of course, we also have footman bows, which are self-bows of one piece."
He indicated to another section, which showed bows made of wood, one carefully worked piece. They were all relaxed, the sinews not hooked in, but ready to be.
"So... which one would you like to try, Sir?", he asked.

Cuan - Láir Square

With a smile, Jeremiah spoke.

"Lead the way ma'am! I am eager to meet some fellow craftsmen of the trade!"

Jeremiah understood that the Selkie people were a quite methodical people so it didn't surprise him that he would have to get permission to set up an exhibit. As such, he filed that bit of information away for later when he might be able to find one of the event organizers to get permission. It would be a shame if he couldn't show off his style to the people of the Freelands.

Mona lifted Ilia onto the back of her horse with a grin, having grabbed him by the arm and Mistress Banphrionsa noticed, how uncomfortable he looked, even after Mona asked him to hold on tight.
The young woman rolled her eyes and took his arms, wrapping them around herself and placing his hands on her stomach so that he had a good hold - as a side effect, his face vanished in her mane, soon equally flaming as her hair.
Mona nodded to Ilia's mother, who had taken seat next to Jeremiah on the block.
"Alright, let's go!", she said and pointed for the nearest exit of the square, "First, down that road!"

En route to the Marcach Camp.
As the horse whose reins were in Leonard's hands gave a soft neigh, Hilda had to grin. "Well, if the lad doesn't mind, he can indeed carry our stuff - even if it's not a horribly long march."
"Unlike mine during conscription ..." - Sophus remembered. "Twenty-five kilometers, from Preetz-Harderstedt to Sophienhof, with the weight of three of those on the back and acute deafness from Lieutenant Jansen's permanent yelling."
"Oh, then it's hearing loss, not ignorance?" - Mia wondered.
"What?" - he said, putting a finger behind his ear.
Mia snorted. "See?"
"In any case" - Hilda continued, "one can also be lucky, if there's someone who helps luck out. That's part of luck."
"Sure, make it even more complicated" - Sophus said, laughing.

Láir Square.
Chris recognized the young, green-haired man with the sparkling green eyes, who gave him a friendly hug, at once, as well as the young brunette woman waving at him. Since they had turned away, he hadn't seen their faces, but now he did - they were well-known to him.
Indeed, no introduction necessary.
"Finnegan, Enya! Nice to see ya' folks again!" - he said while hugging the former back. "How are you guys doing?"

En route to the Marcach Camp.
Leonard grinned at Sophus.
"You lead a herd of cattle of fifteen thousand animals from Scilly over hundreds of kilometres to Lake Iasc with two dozen other cattle herders and two supply wagons and we talk again.", he said, "At times, you turn crazy from all the mooing!"
He took care of the bags with ease, loading them up - his horse had no issues either.
"So, Hilda...", he said with a grin once that was done, looking at her, "...what have you been up to in the last few months?"

Láir Square.
Finnegan grinned, showed his right hand.
A thread of silk was wrapped around his little finger, shimmering in silver, a similar thread was around Amy's little finger.
"We'll be getting married, that's what!", he said with a grin, "The fun thing was, that we were snuggling and one of us began with the topic and at some point, we asked ourselves, if we wanted to marry and..."
"...and we agreed to get the engagement done the next day.", Enya finished the story, "When we asked my Dad, he threw up his hands and yelled: 'About bloody time!'"
"My parents were no less happy, but less vocal.", Finnegan added with a wide grin.

[Mervay]

The receptionist took care of the formalities with them and then handed them the keys to their room, which was a cheap one - and it deserved this cheap price: It was an over-glorified broom chamber on the first floor, with a small cupboard, a bed, wider then normal, and a chair under a small window. Once they had set themselves up, they might notice the commotion outside.
Yelling, a crash even, a squeak, then another crash.
All of that happened downstairs, in the ground floor, which was followed by more yelling.
Down there, they would be able to see one of the restaurant's waitresses, holding a struggling animal, a black-furred vulpine, who was struggling in the hold of the wiatress, while two more employees of the house were looking rather pissed.
That one of them had a rather nasty looking scratch mark on the cheek might have something to do with it.

The girls gave the money to the recepcionist as she took care of the rest of the formalities and handed them an cheap key to an cheap room, in the eyes of the girls that was kinda possible considering it wasn't the best place to stay and neither the most expensive on all the city.

Once they were in their room they could see why the cheap price of this room, a kinda wide bed, a small cupboard, chair looking to an smile window and... Nothing more, they just continued with setting themselves leaving their package in their bed meanwhile Lise kept her violin with her in her case as she placed it in a purse where it would be more safe on her eyes.

Trinity was kinda glad that it wasn't that bad since she thought it would be not so decent for the price, of course that thought was ended with the crash, yelling, squeaks downstairs. Both of the girls sighed and went to check what happened downstairs in the restaurant.

"You got to be kidding" Trinity said as she looked the scene of all the scandal. "Have I went crazy or it's true what I'm seeing???" she said looking at Lise which just sighed.

"Nope. You aren't crazy it is happening" she said as they found the culprit of this.

It resulted that the animal which the waitress was holding although with some struggle since that vulpine wanted to escape the lady arms, two other workers were pissed and the answer was in the checks of one of them since the animal gave it an scratch mark on it... The question now is???

"Can I ask who let the vulpine enter??" Lise asked as she kept watching the scene.

[Kuronami]

Pina giggled.
"He does sound like a nice lad, that Kenny.", she said, smiling at Billy, "I am sure, that he still thinks of you, no matter the distance!" Thus having reinforced Billy's confidence, she looked at her parents and rose. "Well... if you have time later today, at 4 p.m., Donny and his lads and lassies make a demonstration at the Middle Bastion. It's later today, in the afternoon, but..."
She shrugged.

"Well, I do hope so. If we don't start fallin all in love and such, he is nice and I wouldn't mind being in friend."

"Sounds like fun. So we'd love to join." Charlie agreed on behalf of everyone. "In the meantime, you sticking around more or got other things to do? We don't really have many plans, we just came to experience what we can."

The little girl grinned.
"Pleasure to meet cha!", she said with a cheer, "I'm Rona!"
Her mother smiled at the enthusiasm. "Indeed, our pleasure, Tsukasa, Mei. I am Mavie.", she introduced herself with a small bow, "Are you two traveling together? A big round trip or just a few days of Cuan?"

"Rona, what a pretty name!" Mei beamed. "And Mavie sounds very nice too! Yup we're a couple she and I, just got in. We're going to be sticking to Cuan, I'm afraid, once this is done we're back to school, the both of us."

"Aha, yeah" Tsukasa chuckled "High school, the both of us. We're just about finished."

"It's our autumn vacation right now."

[Port Ember]

Gwen led him into the second and then into the third floor, towards a singular room.
It was a larger one, with a large bed, a grey and black furred canine resting on it, who lifted his head and looked at Gwen - she raised a hand and he stayed, where he was.
There was a dresser with a chair in front of it, which Jan might need.
Moment of truth, Gwenny..., she thought as she turned to the man.
She reached up to the closing of her cloak, undid the knot and let it slide to the ground. There she stood, wearing the Geansai he was familiar with and gulped, for a bit below the 'argumentation amplifiers' he liked was a quite visible bulge. She put her hand on it.
"I'm around three months along.", she said, "It's yours."

Jan was silent for more than a few moments. Jan was an exceptionally smart man, a 'real strategic genuis' as he was labeled back home, a planner amongst planners.. a visionary. But here he was - shocked. He did NOT see this coming. For the first time in his entire life, he was without something smart to say. Or anything to say really. Jan sat down on the chair by the dresser, his legs feeling a lot older than he thought they were.

His brain ran overtime, it would have probaly overheated and burned out if it was a mechanical part. But a few moments later his brain felt like it was struck with lightning, his entire life clear, fresh and anew.

He quickly stood up, placed his hand gently on Gwen's stomach and spoke in a very calm and softish tone "well darlin' its obvious that you are keepin' it. I like that.. I would very much like to have it.. and you.. in my life.." His one eye kept a watchfull eye on the magnificent canine on the bed, not wanting to be mauled to death for touching his master.

[AHSCA]

Leonard nodded.
"I build things, mostly. Toys and other small mechanical things.", he said and reached into his pocket, putting a small thing of wood onto the table. It was revealed to be, as he pressed a small button on the side, a little music box, playing a soft melody, which repeated quickly. "I am fairly good, but I still have much to learn."
He smiled slightly at Haru.
"Family is important.", he said, "And that little music box is actually for my little sis."

"Aww that's very sweet of you. It's such a nice music box too, you are very crafty, I can tell."

"It's very pretty and the sound is very good if you ask me" Hina nodded in agreement.

Branwen nodded with energy.
"I could not agree more!", she said with enthusiasm, "Good characters drive not only the story, but they make the characters relateable. If the reader can't relate to the story, the story is not going to be effective."
"And if a story is not effective, then why should you read it?", her older sister added.
"Exactly!", Branwen agreed.

"Well spoken! Well listen, I don't know if you two have plans today but you know, I wouldn't mind spending some more time with you both. Maybe show a silly tourist like myself just what the good Selkie people are all about!? And we can share a nice cup of tea together too, My treat!"

[Polish Prussian Commonwealth]

Marie stumbled into the shop, before noticing the conspicuous lack of any staff.
She blinked twice and turned to Kiah. “Miss...where’s the staff? Or does this store run on the honor system?”
Ordinarily alarms would be going off in Marie’s head, and her hand would be drifting to her trench dagger. But she had forgotten to pack it, and even if she did, pure exhaustion had muffled her senses.

[Minroz]

“Aww…” Lianhua moaned unhappily, looking slumped. She felt she’s being rejected. Tieguang, being a good husband, moves in to give her a small hug.

[“There, there, my love. Don’t worry, the wolf is just being shy.”] Tieguang reassured her.

“Mh…” She could only hum in silence. For those who worked with her in the military on professional basis, they wouldn’t believe her to be capable of being outwardly girly. General Sun Lianhua was known in the Eight-Banners to be a strict commander. Those who knew her personally, she’s also a living being with feelings.

Getting back to archery, Tieguang, in response to Aydin could only hummed in thoughts. Scratching his chin, the brunette made his choice.

“I’m thinking of going for the composite bow, my people were more familiar with them anyway.” He said. “Back in the ancient days, my country uses crossbows as infantry weapons than archers. We have one design that pretty much shoots arrows like a machine gun, believe it or not.”

[Mediama]

Fiona took the hug, wrapped her arms around Miranda.
The call was finished, Kathleen had her directions and the name of the bakery, but no matter what, Fiona was not disappointed in Miranda - she was disappointed in herself. That Kathleen did not depend on anyone, and neither did Miranda, was not a problem.
That they were friends was not a problem either.
Fiona, once she had settled into the hug, exhaled deeply, tension visibly leaving her body.
And then she said something, which she could have slapped herself for: "Your hair smells nice..."

Shivers ran up Miranda's spine.

She had felt similar things before, whenever she felt Kathleen's touch, whenever she saw a particularly interesting girl. It was difficult to describe alone, but whenever she read books like Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, or Wuthering Heights, it was a similar feeling described about whenever a woman fell in love with a man. Aside from the difference that they were both girls, everything was the same. It puzzled and bothered her to no end, despite the fact that she could be quite imaginative in her best of times.

Still, she couldn't deny that she felt a little bit warmer hugging Fiona, and her abdomen felt like it was about to burst with butterflies.

Minutes flew by, Miranda processing what Fiona said. She followed her instinct to take a deep breath while she was still hugging the girl. She took in the scent for a few moments, pondering... processing. In a voice that sounded a bit stuttered in a flustered state, she said, "Th-Thank you, yours smells good, t-too." She had no idea what was going on what she was feeling, where all of this was going, or whether or not they were heading to the bakery or waiting in the streets.

But she knew someway, somehow, she done goofed up, and made things awkward between the two girls, as she stood there, hugging Fiona and blushing furiously in a deep crimson.

---

The Arrowmaiden standing by the door in full armour nodded to Liv and Kat with a small smile before she looked forward again, keeping guard in full armour, with bowcase on the hip, a quiver on the back and a lance in the hand. Liv was quite sure, that she also had daggers somewhere.
In any case, she opened the door into the ground level of the side building, into the common area. A large, massive, wooden table was there, benches around it - and people, maybe a dozen, wearing Geansais, different robes, all in all things, which would make it clear to Liv, that she wasn't the only 'intruder'.
"Ah, Livvy!", one of the men at the table said and rose, approaching her and Kat. "Good to see you join us!" He was a tall, broad shouldered, middle aged man, who gave Liv a hug, which she took with a grin. Then his eyes fell onto Kat. "Ah, you must be... Cat, right? Liv spoke much about you."
"Kat, if I may introduce?", Liv said, "That's Finnegan, the Right Hand Man of High Priestess Ardsagart."
"Pleasure to meet you!", Finnegan said.

Katherine stood in close proximity to Liv as she was hugged by the large, middle aged man. When he gaze landed on Katherine, she couldn't help but feel an aura of fatherly authority from the man. She nodded as he presumed who she was. All the while, her mind was screaming at the fact that she was practically backstage, in a bloody temple, in a bloody Spring Religious Ceremony, with her bloody girlfriend. She barely had any brain capacity left to even look up and around to marvel at the vast, grandiose historical architecture which came with a building as old as this, though not as old as the temple proper. Well, this went from 0 to 11 really quickly. Is this Liv's dad? Shit, this is too much to process. I thought we were going to get breakfast for Christ's sake! What the hell should I do?

She stood closer to Liv, but when he offered a handshake, she extended her own arm, and took it in stride, like a proper Mediaman would have done. "I'm Katherine Shelby. It's nice to meet you to u-umm, Father Finnegan?"

Katherine mentally facepalmed, Great, just great. So he's probably not her dad, but seriously? If he is, way to make a pun, he's supposed to be making the dad jokes! If not, welllll... fudge a freaking duck.

Being that Kat was protestant herself (well, loosely anyway, her parents made her go to church), and she knew of the French Catholics, combined with the fact that despite her travels, she still didn't have a full grasp on Selkie culture, she couldn't help but wish for god himself to snipe her from the heavens to end her misery over the potentially cultural gaff.

Still, a mistake was a mistake, and so she stood close to Liv, waiting to see how Finnegan would react, take her consequences, and figure out whether or not she may have accidently ruined her girlfriend's reputation within the cults of Selkie.

[The Chuck]

Cuan - Láir Square

Jeremiah helped the woman up onto the spring seat next to him while Mona hoisted Ilia onto Bromach.

"Alright, let's go! First, down that road!"

At the lady's direction, they started to head down the street. Maude's horseshoes clicked and clacked off the hard ground as she trotted along with the wagon behind her. As she reached a steady pace, Jeremiah took a moment to loosen his grip on her reins and turn his head towards the lady next to him.

"Miss, my name is Jeremiah and I am obviously a blacksmith though I never got your name."

[Walkerfort]

Cuan - Láir Square
john lancer had been part of the national guard for too long
"get it together" he said as he walked towards a bench "oh lord" having served in the civil war, he wasn't exactly clear in his head "just think of happy thoughts, this is a party anyways"...

he sat down and looked around, with a small smile